Niantic's smartphone money vacuum Pokémon GO has reportedly achieved another impressive milestone, with estimates now suggesting it has surpassed a whopping $2.5 billion in revenue.

The figure comes from Sensor Tower, which also reports that the game had reached $1.8 billion in revenue by its second anniversary last July. With $700 million safely tucked away so far during its third year, and three months left to go until that third anniversary comes around, it looks like the app is about to have another incredibly successful year - even by its own lofty standards.

The app grossed an estimated $205 million during the first quarter of 2019, which Sensor Tower notes was a 40% year-over-year increase from that same period in 2018. The $2.5 billion total suggests that player spending stands at an average of around a staggering $4 million per day.

The US accounts for approximately 35% of total revenue, with Japan just behind on 29%. Germany is in third with a much more distant 6%.

Do you play regularly? Have you been playing ever since it launched back in 2016? Tell us below.

Ryan’s that annoying kind of guy in multiplayer games - you know the one, the kind of person that throws a temper tantrum if he can’t be Yoshi in Mario Kart or gets stuck with the controller with the dodgy button. Yeah, that kind.

I fell out of grace with the game in early 2017. But this past year, especially since Let's Go! came out, I've been trying to grind in the game's missions so I can push for Meltan and the Alolan forms.

@dazzleshell to my knowledge, Nintendo owns a part of the Pokémon Company. I'd imagine some percentage of this revenue goes to Nintendo, even if in indirect form through stock prices rising or something like that. @serebii would definitely have a better answer (sorry for the random tag)

It's exactly the sort of experience that should flourish on mobile: takes advantage of all the strengths of the system whilst offering an incomparable experience. And it's not as if it's aggressive on the IAP either.

The only foot they've put wrong in the last 3 years has been those damned sinnoh stones.

The initial launch was pretty massive, but it felt more like a neat add-on for a GPS app, than a full game. Expectedly, the player base shrank from people curious about a new phenomenon, to the hard core player base.

But it feels like an actual game now days, and admittedly, I recently spent my real life money to load up on super incubators before an event. Their biggest issue now is keeping the game fresh without adding in too much useless filler content. PvP and trading were really the last peices of the puzzle to make this game whole. So where do they go from here?

I really have to hand it to Niantic, they do continue to improve this game. While they do have some major screw ups at times (they still often blow community days, especially in Asia - by not having enough server power) the game today is dramatically better than when it launched.

I still don't like that there is no online trading in a game that requires an internet connection and highly resent the 50-coin-a-day limit though...

Gyms, raid battles, the growing selection of Pokemon, the gift system, community days, special events, more and more Poke-stops and gyms being added... all good things.